Students who have dropped out of high school--and those at risk of doing so--are at greater risk of lifelong poverty, involvement with the criminal justice system, dependence on government welfare programs, and even premature death. In the last few years, however, the problems at high schools have compounded, as pandemic-era school closures led to…

The Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) is beginning its tenth year rewarding students who strive to excel in high school and continue their education in degree and certificate programs in Alaska. This report covers the high school, postsecondary, Alaska residency, and workforce outcomes of the APS program between 2011 - Fall 2019. [For…

There is broad consensus that education and workforce training are closely linked to economic wellbeing. Earning a family-sustaining hourly wage (FSHW) serves as an important indicator of a family's economic well-being. Understanding how individuals achieve a FSHW is key to the work of various stakeholders, including educators, policy makers,…

The recent reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act--the principal federal education program supporting career and technical education (CTE)--expressly aims to "align workforce skills with labor market needs." "How Aligned is Career and Technical Education to Local Labor Markets?", co-authored…

Since 2011, the Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) has rewarded Alaska students who excel in high school with over $88 million in scholarships to help cover the cost of in-state postsecondary education. This report covers the high school, postsecondary, Alaska residency, and workforce outcomes of the APS program between 2011-Fall 2020. [For…

The Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) is beginning its ninth year rewarding students who strive to excel in high school and continue their education in degree and certificate programs in Alaska. This report covers the high school, postsecondary, Alaska residency, and workforce outcomes of the APS program between 2011-Fall 2018.

The Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) is beginning its tenth year rewarding students who strive to excel in high school and continue their education in degree and certificate programs in Alaska. This report covers the high school, postsecondary, Alaska residency, and workforce outcomes of the APS program between 2011-Fall 2019. [For…

Adult education's mission is a critical one. It seeks to provide the large and diverse population of adults who lack basic skills, a high school credential, or English language skills with the competencies they need to be productive workers, family members, and citizens. Federally funded adult education serves learners in three types of programs:…

Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 directs the federal government to conduct a national assessment of adult education, including activities to understand the extent to which adult education strategies positively affect learners. A systematic review of the research on the effectiveness of particular strategies in adult…

The authors of this report aim to understand the health of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and labor market in the Appalachia region -- defined as the intersection of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia -- with a focus on the mining and extraction industry. This report is the third in a three-part series.…

This second of five annual reports focuses on employment and wages in energy and advanced manufacturing-related industries and on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education indicators in the Appalachia Partnership Initiative (API) region, comprising twenty-seven counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Together,…

We analyze the returns to education in a life-cycle framework that incorporates risk preferences, earnings volatility (including unemployment), and a progressive income tax and social insurance system. We show that such a framework significantly reduces the measured gains from education relative to simple present-value calculations, although the…

This first of five annual reports focuses on employment and wages in energy and advanced manufacturing--related industries and on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education indicators in the Appalachia Partnership Initiative (API) region. Together, these reports will capture trends over the next four years to (1) inform the…

This report describes the findings of a nationally representative sample of 544 recent high school graduates from the classes of 2006 through 2011. The purpose of this study is to understand how recent high school graduates who are not attending college full time are faring in the workforce, specifically looking at those individuals who graduated…

Neglected, but significant, the long-run consequence of the minimum wage--which was made national policy in the United States in 1938--is its stimulation of capital deepening. This took two forms. First, the engineered shortage of low-skill, low-paying jobs induced teenagers to invest in additional human capital--primarily by extending their…